Their first job after college? Lawmaker

Tom Davidson was 22 when he was elected to Maine's House of Representatives - and his colleagues took Puckish note of his pink-cheeked status by leaving baby diapers on his desk.

Five years later, Mr. Davidson co-chairs a major legislative committee, where he's overseeing the controversial, complicated task of dismantling a utilities monopoly.

And there are plenty more "youngsters" serving here in the capital of Augusta. As it turns out, Maine's experiment with term limits - and a Yankee proclivity for hard work - has produced one of the most influential cadres of young lawmakers in the US.

They call themselves the Kids Caucus, and to the degree they hang together (both on the issues and at the local bowling alley after hours), they've become a force to be reckoned with. Among the twentysomethings (and a few barely thirtysomethings) are the House majority leader and the second-ranking lawmaker on the powerful Appropriations Committee.

They stuck together, for instance, on a reform measure that prohibits lawmakers from fund-raising during the six months the Legislature is in session. They took some heat from those who saw nothing wrong with attending dinners with lobbyists right before big votes on pertinent bills, but in the end the restrictions passed.

"It keeps the legislators doing their work," says Davidson, who first dreamed up the reform while on the road with Mike Saxl, the House majority leader.

Other states have term limits, but the "kid effect" may be unique to Maine. That may be partly because many term-limit states pay lawmakers more than the $8,000 salary Maine does (for a December-to-May session). But part of it, too, may be the ingrained New England commitment to public service.

Representative Saxl, wearing a fish-patterned tie and a broad smile, says the Kids Caucus has bridged two goals: public service and having fun. "We could talk about what bands were playing, or we could talk about how welfare reform is impacting the people in our neighborhoods," he says.

For some, that commitment to public service is inherited. Mr. Saxl's mother has represented Bangor in the House since 1992. And Kathleen Stevens, the high-ranking member of the Appropriations Committee, also followed in a parent's footsteps. "I knew that mom did this as a service job," says Representative Stevens, whose mother spent 10 years in the Legislature and encouraged her to run for an open seat in 1992.